Archos G9 Android Honeycomb tablets start at $299 with storage up to 250GB

Archos has announced its latest line of Android tablets, and there’s good news for fans of the budget brand. This time, Archos is shipping a fully-current version of Android right out of the box.

The Archos G9 series will feature Android Honeycomb 3.2 with full Android Market access and sport Texas Instruments’ OMAP 4 dual-core processors. Archos will offer a total of five tablets in the G9 line-up, and it’s nice to see someone using a chip other than Nvidia’s Tegra 2 for once. The OMAP 4 offers slight performance gains over the Tegra 2 with its PowerVR SGX 540 GPU and dual-channel memory.

At the low end, there’s the 8-inch Archos 80 G9, clocked at 1GHz with 8GB of internal storage priced at $299. For an additional $30, you’ll get twice the storage and a much faster 1.5GHz processor. At the top you’ll find a model that with a classic Archos touch: a 250GB hard drive (with Seagate’s hybrid drive tech that incorporates 4GB of flash storage to boost performance). It also features the 1.5GHz processor and is set to sell for $369.

The 8-inch screen pumps out 1024×768 pixels, and there’s a 720P-capable front facing camera. 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 come standard, and 3G connectivity can be added via an Archos USB stick. Rounding out the hardware are a GPS, accelerometer, compass, vibration motor, mini HDMI and micro USB ports, microSD expansion slot, and a kickstand for those times when you want to enjoy your tablet without having to hold onto it or crane your neck.

Next up is the 10-inch variant, the Archos 101 G9 — apart from the 1280×800 display, its hardware is identical to the 80. Two models are offered, both with the 1.5GHz OMAP processor. $399 gets you 16GB of storage while $469 snags the 250GB beast. All five models are expected to hit retail shelves in just a few days.

If you’re concerned about the incorporation of an HDD in the top-of-the-line G9s, don’t fret. Seagate’s drive offers decent power savings over run-of-the-mill hard drives — the company claims as much as 50%, which would put the hybrids pretty close to some SSDs in terms of efficiency.